LOS ANGELES — After just a few moments in Michael Jackson’s bedroom, the paramedic dispatched to save the singer’s life knew things weren’t adding up.
There was the skinny man on the floor, eyes open and a surgical cap on his head. His skin was turning blue. Paramedic Richard Senneff asked the sweating, frantic-looking doctor in the room what condition the stricken man had.
“He said, ‘Nothing. He has nothing,’ ” Senneff told jurors at the involuntary manslaughter trial of Jackson’s doctor, Conrad Murray. “Simply, that did not add up to me.”
Over the 42 minutes that paramedics tried to revive Jackson, several other things about the room and Murray’s responses seemed inconsistent with what had really happened, Senneff said.
After repeated prodding, Murray revealed a few details about his actions, saying he had given Jackson a dose of the sedative lorazepam to help him sleep. Senneff noted there were bottles of medicine on Jackson’s nightstand, and Murray finally offered that he was treating the singer for dehydration and exhaustion.
Murray never mentioned that he had also been giving Jackson doses of the anesthetic propofol and other sedatives, an omission that prosecutors say shows he repeatedly tried to conceal his actions during the struggle to save Jackson.
Murray, 58, has pleaded not guilty. If convicted, Murray could face up to four years in prison and could lose his medical license.
Prosecutors say the cardiologist repeatedly lied to medics and emergency room doctors about medications he had been giving Jackson in the singer’s bedroom. They contend Murray administered a fatal dose of propofol and other sedatives. Defense attorneys say Jackson gave himself the fatal dose after his doctor left the room.
